THE Barrow MP has held a meeting with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to discuss the future of Phoenix House. 

Simon Fell met with Mims Davies, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the DWP, to discuss the campaign to Save Phoenix House.

Employees who work there process industrial injury and disablement benefits. 

The closure of the site proposed for October 2023 puts 39 DWP staff working at Phoenix House in Barrow at risk of redundancy. The Government announced plans to close 42 DWP sites, which the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union said would put at least 1,100 jobs at risk. 

Mr Fell said: "We discussed the value of the work that the amazing team does there and the Minister has vowed to meet with me again following the evidence I submitted from employees, charity groups, and others." 

When the announcement was made, under the then DWP minister David Rutley, he said over three years the department would transition 'to an estate that is smaller, greener and better.' 

Mr Rutley promised that the Government 'would see what opportunities there are within the DWP' for affected staff. Mrs Davies and the DWP argue that the move is 'not to reduce headcount' and would look at other arrangements such as hybrid working. 

READ MORE: PCS DWP rally in Barrow to save Phoenix House service

Protests were held by the PCS back in October at the Spirit of Barrow monument, which Mr Fell stood with. Mr Fell also presented a petition to Parliament calling on the DWP to ensure that the services are not withdrawn. 

More than three hundred signed the petition via the MP's website. 

At the time, Martin Cavanagh the PCS DWP group president said: "It was a decent turnout, and people certainly got the message - a lot of leaflets were handed out throughout the day, so it was definitely worth doing."

He said that the service would 'transfer to Bradford and Barnsley:' "The experience loss and therefore the impact that will have on the support for what is a highly specialised benefit, will be huge.

"The service will be there but the standard of that service will plummet."

He also said that it would be 'yet more jobs lost from Barrow and the local economy.'